Emirates minister visits Iran

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates is to go to Iran on Monday, the first visit of its kind for 10 years.

The visit by the minister, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahyan, had not been announced in advance, and comes amid the continuing dispute between the two countries over three strategic islands in the Gulf.

Iran took control of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tumb islands in 1971 when British forces left the region.

The three islands, which are claimed by the UAE, dominate the approach to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil supplies passes.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service